Summary Sheet from our Thusday responses.
The link above will take you to the summary sheet from Thursday's survey.

I don't know if I showed everyone the summary of the google form we had on our blog on Thursday. It's a good example of how google forms will make a summary sheet for each of your google forms.
I've got to go mow the yard now but thank you for all your hard work at John Muir Academy! It was fun getting to know all of you.

I don't know if this is ending up in the right spot. I tried four times to post the favorite tool from the smackdown on our class wiki blog link.
I really liked Picnik and Flickr for personal use. I think it has a lot of possibilities to have fun with family photos and then share them.
For school, I know I can use the Paper Rater to check my work. I don't think I will be able to use it with the work from kids quite yet. Most of the work they give me are structured assignments without a lot of free form writing. However, I do see immediate application of the Museum Box. I anticipate using it as a summative project when we are learning about the scientists involved with the development of the atomic model.
Thank you everyone for a great week. I learned a lot including how little I know. I am excited to use a lot of what we were exposed to as time permits. Have a great summer and a good start to your school year.

final reflection by dan

What really stood out for me is the sheer volume of what is out there for use in education as well as personal life. The week started out very overwhelming through about Tuesday. As the week progressed into Thursday and Friday, I really appreciated the time to spend with the various web tools. In some ways it just reinforced how little I know but at the same time gave me some comfort in a basic working knowledge of at least a few programs. I am excited to explore the programs we used and more. Thank you so much for opening my eyes to what is possible. Like anything else worthwhile, it will take spending some time!

Final Post

This has been such an incredible week of learning for me. First of all, I really want to say thank you to Deb, but also to each of my classmates. Our class has worked so well together, always supporting one another no matter what level of expertise we bring. I always enjoy this feeling in the weeklong JMA, likely because it is such a lonely adventure once we return to the classroom. I feel rejuvenated once again.

One of the things that I will remember as I head back is how nice it feels to be in control of your learning again. Technology has definitely passed me by. Information is easy to access, but there is so much of it. This is completely overwhelming most often, resulting in me just sticking to what I know...very old school. This week has made learning fun again. By learning 'how to learn' about new technology or web tools, I feel I'm back in action. Thanks Deb--for introducing new language and forcing us to use it. Thanks Common Craft for creating such simplistic videos that give me the confidence that even I can get the hang of this new thing! I think this lesson is very valuable as we head back into the classroom. I am guessing that at least one of my students will feel that chemistry is too overwhelming...I will try to remember this feeling of being unable to move.

Have a great rest of the summer--and a great school year everyone!

Final Post

This has been a great week! The information and events that stood out for me include learning about Wikis, Blogs, Igoogle, Glogster, Animoto, iPad, iPod, iTouch, Smart phones, computer accessories and the websites that were introduced in the smack down. As the week progressed I felt more comfortable using all of these new Web 2.0 applications. I am going back to school with so many new ideas to use in my computer enrichment class. I liked that we were introduced to new programs then were on our own to explore and use it. This is a great example for me of how to teach computer technology to my students!

Thanks for a great week!
Cathy

Thanks, Deb!

This course was wonderful. I was a little nervous about it because I knew so few of the terms in the class description that it was almost like trying to read a foreign language. :-) The class exceeded my expectations on the first day! I was so excited to show my husband all the cool things I learned Monday night. Thanks, Deb, for the great course. You were very patient with our limited experience and gave us lots of work time to learn and figure out how we want to use these tools.

Kelli's Final Blog Entry

What events and information stood out for you?

1. I learned SO much information this week about interactive web tools that it's hard to pick. I think it's great that the class info was all placed on a wiki; it made us learn that technology plus it's always out there for us to access and use on the web. I know I'll be going back to it.

2. Though it is sad that participation was so low at John Muir Academy, it was nice to have smaller classes. I felt like that made it easier for us to get a lot of support from our instructor so we were able to learn more efficiently. It also helped our group to connect and feel comfortable sharing ideas, which is also very valuable. It would be great if we could keep class sizes down for future JM Academy classes.

3. Mansanto Tour - We had a really wonderful scientist explain the complicated things Monsanto does in a very understandable way. He would be a great guest speaker for high school students.

What ideas/activities do you want to remember for your classroom?

1. paperrater.com - I love this; it's what every writing teacher dreams of! I really like that it gives writing suggestions in addition to marking misspellings and grammar mistakes. I'm looking forward to playing with it to learn more.

2. blogger.com - I had done this a couple years back, but I let it fall to the wayside. Being reminded of it this week helped me remember how much my students loved it and looked forward to writing their thoughts on the book (though they don't think it's writing) when usually they don't like the writing days on papers.

My Final Blog Posting by Leanne

What events and information stood out for you? Why? 1. I really value being in a small group of people to learn new technology. I think that is key, and it maximizes what I can learn.
2. My tour of American Family was very beneficial. I appreciated getting a chance to see the 'corporate world' and also learn that 'soft skills' and 'hard skills' are equally important. I also like the idea that today's students need to have a holistic 'corporate lattice' mentality rather than power-driven 'corporate ladder' mentality.
3. My understanding of iPads, iPods, iTouches, and all other iStuff (that's my term!) is definitely clearer. An iPad is on my list of things to buy by the time summer is over. There are so many ways to use one, and I want to start exploring as soon as possible. Part of me would like to look into writing a grant to purchase one or a few for my classroom. The money is out there. You just have to work to get it sometimes.

What ideas/activities do you want to remember for your classroom?
1. I need to give students time to play and self-discover when it comes to some of the sites I may show them. Sometimes I feel like I need to model and show them everything, but what I've discovered through my own participation in this class is that I was able to discover a lot of additional features on my own just through trial and error.
2. Animoto, Paperrater, MuseumBox, and Picnik are probably the sites I see myself using the most in both my professional AND personal life. I'm also excited about reorganizing my educational links on my blog using LiveBinder.

Thanks, Deb, for sharing all you know with us! It was an excellent class and just what I was looking for this week.

Friday--Your Favorite Tool Idea from the Smackdown

Of all the tools presented this morning, which one caught your imagination and how do you visualize using it with your students? Or was it one that you personally would use but not introduce to students? We will see if a popular one rises to the surface or if because we all teach different age groups and different subjects, we get a potpourri of tools.

P.S. I used paperrater.com to check my grammar and spelling before posting this! I love that tool--it corrected my spelling of potpourri.

Day Four--Thursday

Wednesday--Day Three

Tours and information overload. Breathe and relax. Let's keep the unit revamp simple--tell us what lesson you are thinking of for integrating technology. What is the lesson about and what technology will help you teach it more effectively? Researching bees and making a glogster? Researching bees and using photos of bees to make an animoto with text? Or other ideas?

Day Two--Tuesday

Did this all seem very futuristic and almost sci fi? Predict when and how ipads, ipods and iphones will impact your life both personal and teaching. Of everything you saw what was the one thing you want to use?

Monday--Thoughts

So we have looked at animoto, glogster and done some embedding...all in one day! What are your thoughts so far? What could be useful and how would you use it? Did you get your educator code for animoto?

Welcome to Our Class Blog

The purpose of this blog is to share with each other this week. Please post at least once each day of class. I will help kick things off each day by posting a reflection question at the end of class. Do share any difficulties, frustrations , "that's useful", or moments of joy!